


before you say g o o d b y e

by Cimeni



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2014-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-24 16:02:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2587466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cimeni/pseuds/Cimeni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Admitting that you've royally screwed up and hurt your best friend is one of the hardest things in the world. Realizing you're in love with her might just be a bit harder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	before you say g o o d b y e

"Well, you know, that's the thing, Stefan. After all of this, I..."

He thinks everything will be okay if he just tries his best.

But that's the thing with Caroline; she deserves more than his best. She deserves more than his pathetic apologies and lame attempts, because she has consistently given him more than her best every time the situation has called for it.

She's always been there--a pillar of strength, a lighthouse in turbulent waters, a laugh and a smile and a ray of sunshine--when he's fallen into a hole and had to crawl his way back up. Her hands have always been there for him to take, to pull him up.

That's what makes it worse. She's been there, never wavering in her efforts to reach out to be there for him, to help him through it, and he's brushed it aside. Over and over again, he's brushed it aside because deep down, he's always known that when he's ready to try his best and get back in her good graces, it will be okay.

He didn't want to hear how much it killed her to be away from him, to be unable to help him through his loss. He didn't want to hear how much she was begging for him to take the rope she had thrown. He didn't want to hear, not even for a small instant, just how much she needed him in her life.

It terrified him. It terrified him more than anything else in his life, because it was raw and real and right in his face, and he didn't want to accept it.

He didn't want to accept that it would be the end of him if he lost her too.

He didn't want to accept that without her, he would be utterly, mind numbing, crazily alone.

"I don't wanna be friends anymore."

Then she's gone. The street looked somehow darker, somewhat more mundane, and tragically empty, even as a sea of people continued to pass him by. All he could do was stare at her retreating back, her blonde curls bouncing with every step she took away from him.

It's only when his gaze lifts to the sky, several long minutes after her departure, that the realization hits him like a ton of bricks, and he has to remember to breathe.

_'I don't want to be friends anymore either, Caroline.'_


End file.
